Fill a pan with cold water and add 3 new potatoes and an egg, put on the stove with the lid on and bring to boiling point. Once boiling, turn heat down to simmer and set timer for 9 minutes.

While this simmers you can prep the actual salad. Roughly chop some lettuce (I use iceberg and spinach), a few tomatoes, some cucumber, peppers, avocado and anything else you fancy chucking in, the world is your oyster 🥗.

When the timer goes off, scoop the egg out and plunge into a bowl of cold water. Leave the potatoes to simmer for another 5 minutes.

After the 5 minutes are up, add your tenderstem broccoli and set timer for 3 minutes. Tap the egg shell all round with the back of a teaspoon and peal. Cut in half and place on plate.

Roughly chop some spring onions and place in a bowl. Add the light mayonnaise. Once the potatoes are cooked (should feel easy to put a knife through), roughly chop these up and mix with the onion/mayo mix. Add this and the broccoli to your plate, whatever dressing you desire and enjoy.

Simple salad that tastes delicious and has plenty of benefits for you. I prep this for lunch, and leave the egg smashing and potato salad mix for the next day.

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Butternut squash is a vegetable I rarely ate until I met Rory. It always reminded me of pumpkins which I distinctly remember not enjoying. Then one night several weeks ago, Rory said he really liked squash, so I decided to try it. Cooking a fairly simple risotto from BBC good food, it was nice enough and the flavours were there, but after cooking it a few times I started to adjust the flavours and what went in my risotto until we created this recipe.

This risotto is still pretty simple, and I believe it is delicious, full of flavour and lots of different vegetables. I think it makes a really nice starter serving 4, or as a main meal serving 2. You could also replace the squash with chicken, and the recipe would still work well.

Peel and chop butternut squash into large chunks. The best method Rory and I use is to peel the squash, and then to chop the base off and scoop out the middle, chop into thick slices and then into lumps. Place a piece of foil in the roasting tin; add the squash and spray with low cal. spray. Place in middle of pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes, you want the squash to soften not crisp too much.

Prep the other veg (peppers, onion, and garlic). Tip: For the garlic, chop the end off, and then press down the side of the knife to crush the garlic, this will make it easier to peel. Also, chop the pepper up nice and thick so it does not disintegrate while cooking.

Make up the stock (800 ml) about 20 minutes after the squash goes in the oven. Next, heat up the frying pan on a medium to high heat, spray with low cal. spray and add the onions to soften. Fry for about 2 minutes, spraying more 1 cal. spray if needed. Turn down to medium heat and add peppers and garlic, fry for a further minute, and then add the risotto rice and fry for about 3 minutes.

* After 30 minutes take ¾ of the squash out of the oven and mash into a bowl and cover and leave on side. Turn oven down to about 140°c, place the rest back in the oven to crisp up. *

Turn the heat down to 3 and add the bay leaf. Slowly incorporate the stock, making sure after every addition to stir and let the rice absorb the stock. Make sure to do this section slowly to allow the rice to fully absorb all the stock; this will help with a thick delicious flavour.

Once all the stock is incorporated, taste the rice and check its cooked through, then add the mashed butternut squash, and the frozen garden peas. Let this heat through and then add the Crème fraîche and then add to bowls (leave out the bay leaf). Place the roasted squash from the oven on the top of the risotto to serve. Enjoy!

Simple! Such a great meal, very tasty and full of healthy vegetables. Find the print friendly version below.

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This stir-fry is famous, I say famous in the lightest sense. Famous to me as most of my friends have eaten it. A few years ago (when I cooked less than I should have) I used to always cook the same things. When I would invite the girls round for tea, Claire used to make a joke that I was either cooking Green thai curry or stir-fry. That is pretty much all I ever made. My philosophy was if you cook something great, stick to it. I have a new philosphy however, once you can cook something great, share it with the world. So that is what I am going to do. Share with you my famous stir-fry so everyone can try it at home.

It’s very simple and easy to make, and what makes it so great is that get lots of vegetables all in one meal with a sweet, tangy sauce that makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Anyone who knows Rory or has ever read a post knows how much he likes food, but one thing I found out is that vegetables aren’t “his thing”, I mean he will eat them but they are really just filling space that could be better filled with cake. But, this stir-fry, which is basically just vegetables (and some noodles) he loves. Which goes to show, you can make vegetables taste great*.

This recipe can be adapted with different vegetables and you can add meat or fish if required. I have kept this recipe vegan/vegetarian to keep costs low. If you wish to use meat, I recommend part cooking the chicken first (5 mins or so) and then adding onions and following the recipe, whereas with prawns, if they are already cooked add these when you add the sauce just to heat them up.

I invited Claire round to have dinner tonight as Rory is away for the weekend, this recipe serves two generously and is great the next day re heated. It doesn’t however freeze well. The prep takes about 20 minutes, if I have time at the weekend (and I know I want to eat stir-fry one night in the week), I will chop up all the veg, seal them in tubs and put them in the fridge to save time when cooking.

*In my opinion vegetables already taste great!

Firstly, you will need to have a large wok, wooden spatula, sharp knife and a chopping board; if you don’t have a wok, a deep frying pan will work fine.

Stir-fry ingredients

½ red onion

140g broccoli

1 red/yellow bell pepper

4 baby corn

Garden peas (few handfuls)

1 spring onion

1 garlic clove

½ tsp. red chilli

½ tsp. fresh ginger

1 cal spray

Rice noodles to serve (1 nest is enough)

Sauce ingredients

1 tsp. tomato puree

2 tbsp. light soy sauce

2 tbsp. sweet chilli sauce

2 tbsp. terriyaki sauce

A pinch of paprika

Black pepper

Sesame seeds (to serve)

The method:

Time to start prepping! This is where you are going to chop, dice and slice all your veg: finely slice red onion, spring onion, garlic, chilli and pepper; chop baby corn in half length ways; broccoli into small florrets; grate the ginger.

Now to get cooking…turn the hob on to 5 (electric), and let your wok heat up. Once heated, spray some 1 cal. spray in (or oil if you prefer), then turn it down to 4.

Add the red onion and fry for 2 minutes, then add the broccoli for a further 2 minutes, then add everything else (not the sauce though). Add more oil as required (i spray throughout the cooking process).

The trick here is to keep everything moving, don’t let things sit for too long as it will burn at the bottom of the wok.

At this point you want to get your noodles heated. Boil your kettle and place your rice noodles in a pan; pour boiling water to cover them. Bring these to a boil and then simmer for 2-3 minutes. (Don’t forget to keep your stir-fry moving).

After about 5 minutes of cooking, everything should start to be softening and looking almost ready. Add your garden peas now and stir through to heat up.

Now that your noodles are cooking, and your veg is looking cooked, you can add the crucial ingredients to a top notch stir-fry! Now I hate washing up, so I add my sauce directly to the wok, but you can make it in a cup first and pour it in, this is your choice. Whichever option you choose, this is the time to do it.

Drain your noodles and add them to your wok, combine everything together and serve. Depending how many noodles you put in, you may want a little more sauce, just add this to taste.

Simple, easy, tasty! Now sit back with a nice glass of wine, and eat a wonderfully healthy meal without feeling guilty for the wine. I hope you have enjoyed this recipe and I hope even more that you try it and let me know how it goes! There is also a printable recipe below! If you enjoyed this post, please subsribe to my blog, you can do this below on mobile, and top right on desktop. Also like, share and comment!

If you do try this recipe, instagram it and tag me @chefwynd, I would love to hear how you find it